34 Weeks- Baby Room Updates!

How far along? 34 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 30 lbs
Stretch marks? Yep and dimply-looking skin :(  :(  

Can you see your toes? Nope. I also cant see the bottom of my belly without using a mirror! 

Sleep:  Better over Christmas break. I've been having horrible nightmares though! 

Best moment this week:  Christmas with my family and friends!  :)   Receiving all kinds of things for Baby's room. 
Miss Anything? Being 30 lbs lighter....I feel HUGE all the time. It's starting to become a nuisance. 
Movement: Nice big movements.  On Christmas Eve, after midnight Mass, my family all gathered around on the couch in the living room.  It was almost 2 in the morning, but we all watched baby boy move around in my stomach for about 10 minutes.  It was joyful! 

Food cravings: Steak.... On Christmas I had one for the first time in about 3 (4?) years!  
Anything making you queasy or sick:  the lack of sleep is actually. Christmas day I was very nauseous from staying up and I have found if I don't eat meat in the morning I'm nauseous!  Weird! 
Labor Signs: Not yet.....but with 6 weeks to go I really need to start paying attention for them! 
Belly Button in or out? Getting closer and closer to an outie. 
Wedding rings on or off? Still rockin my rings!  The goal is to deliver with them on! 
Happy or Moody most of the time: Sooooooo emotional!  Everything makes me cry!  I think I was the only one who cried at our birth class when they showed the baby birth.  It was tears of joy!  I can't wait for that moment! 
Weekly Wisdom: Pretty much everything they told us in the maternity class.  Matt was advised to start doing all the housework, and he's done excellent so far!  They also told us that it's ok to be getting take out for a few weeks after the baby is born.  Phew! 
Looking forward to: Baby shower #2 with all my college friends on Sunday!  
Als0- the basement floors get installed a week from tomorrow!!!!!

Some new additions to the room.
A changing pad cover.  Matches the room perfectly!!!!  Also note some adorable receiving blankets from Gigi and the frog/wash clothes from Jillian!

A diaper caddy (from my aunts) filled with some diaper essentials. This will go down in the basement so we have all our diaper essentials down there too.

Bobby cover- so cute!  Matches the room perfectly! Also super cute monkey blanket from Grandpa John and his girlfriend.
The Scentsy Lion with the newborn scent is from Grandma Rhonda. Also matches the Safari theme and makes the room smell lovely :)

I'm very excited about the noise-making giraffe!

Adorable picture frame already on the wall!

Letters for his door (yet to be hung up by daddy).

Mom and Dad gave me this from Alex and Grant's room when they were little.  Perfect!
Hanging from it is Baby's new monkey hooded towel :)

And......BOOKS!  Baby received so many new books for his library.  We filled both shelves!  I'm so excited to read all of these to him  :)

Merry Christmas!

Update:  Forgot to pull this off the home computer and put on the blog.  This is the photo we used for our Christmas card!




















This year we didn't have a white Christmas, but we did get snowed in the day after!
Here are Matt and I on Christmas Day!

Playing in the snow the day after Christmas:  Hitler Snowman 

Allison, Me, and Uwe

Grant and I:

Grant, Allison, and I:

Scary!

So much snow!  I haven't seen this much snow in 2 years!

Grant's snow boulder:

Attack!

Oh Grant 

Group photo with their Hitler snowman! 

33 Weeks! My First Baby Shower!

33 weeks and the bump photo is still to come..... I need to go to the grocery!
Updated:  Papaya baby! Although I think it looks smaller than the honeydew from last week....hmm






















Saturday the 22nd, Mom and Alli threw me a baby shower! It was picture book themed and probably the cutest baby shower I have ever been to. I am so blessed!

Here is the snowman diaper cake that Mom made.  She is so creative!  :)

One Fish, Two Fish, Welcome Baby Nolan!  :)

Cake with the letters Allison and Uwe gave me for my birthday.  We will be hanging these letters on the door to his room!

Ashleigh and I at my shower!  She's due at the end of January with Nolan's future girlfriend!

Me, Julie, Julie's baby, Emily, and Ashleigh all at my shower. It was so great to see old friends!


One last photo:  Family boots all ready for the snow!

32 weeks- My Last Birthday Without Baby!

32 weeks is a honeydew melon!

Today's my 26th birthday and my last one without a son to celebrate! I had a wonderful day with my students.  We had our school Advent mass, the Christmas pageant, I got a Christmas bonus, beautiful gifts, and the teachers all went out after work!  Then, Matt and I went out for Indian with Marleen and Mark.  It really was a great day, but tomorrow will be wonderful too!

Matt got me tickets to see THE NUTCRACKER BALLET!!!!!  :)  I'm so excited!!!

How far along? 32 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 26 lbs
Maternity clothes? I'm wearing the same 4 pairs of pants and the same 10 tops all the time! 
Stretch marks? Yep and dimply-looking skin :(  :(  

Can you see your toes? No. I can no longer see that beautiful pedicure. 

Sleep:  I haven't been sleeping well for about a week now.  :( 

Best moment this week:  Graduating from Xavier, and Nutcracker tickets!  :)   And opening onesies and PJs from my students at school. 
Miss Anything? We went to holiday parties over the weekend and I really missed partaking in the wine consumption. 
Movement: Still a lot less movement, but every once in while I can feel him make a BIG movement in which people around me notice that my belly moved! 

Food cravings: Indian this week :) 
Anything making you queasy or sick:  the lack of sleep is actually. 
Have you started to show yet: I'm hearing more and more about how I'm not big enough to be 32 weeks along.  I'm only like 4 weeks away from full term! 
Labor Signs: Actually a lot less Braxton Hicks.  I can't remember the last time I had them! It's been a few weeks! 
Belly Button in or out? Neither. Seriously. 
Wedding rings on or off? Still on! And actually really loose- weird! 
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy :)  It's Christmas and I just finished my Masters Degree!  
Weekly Wisdom: Don't sweat the small stuff- especially work.  Who cares if my lesson plans aren't finished?  Who cares if the sub will have no idea what she/he is doing?  Who cares if my classroom isn't ready when I go into labor?  All that matters is taking care of this baby!  
Looking forward to: Going to Tiffin on Friday to be home for the holidays!  :) 

Matt finished putting up the closet doors in the baby's room!

Check out this beautiful angel Alex and Grant gave me to add to my collection!  :) 

31 Weeks - A Pineapple!

Well, this week my baby boy is the size of a pinepple! 

Yay, a piece of produce I am actually looking foward to eating! :)

Now, I know I have already posted like 8 million baby room photos, but over the weekend we picked up 2 brand new lamps for his room!  It's really starting to look complete!  All that is left is getting a diaper genie and putting the closet doors on his closet!

Picked this little sleeper set up at the Disney store while we were Christmas shopping on Saturday.  How could I resist?  Isn't it adorable?!  :)

30 Weeks....And the most awkward belly photo known to man

30 Weeks.  Holy cow.  I remember when it was an accomplishment that I made it to 13 and I felt like I could tell people!  30.  That means only 10 weeks left!  WOW!

Okay....we had a little trouble with the photo for this week.  Here's the weird thing- the baby is the LENGTH of an English cucumber (15 inches).  Now, you try being a woman and taking a photo with a cucumber that is not extremely uncomfortable.
That's what I thought.

So, after many retakes we finally figured out that holding the cucumber like a football was the least awkward position. See photo at the end of the post. It's probably the most embarrassing photo that has ever been taken of me.

How far along? 30 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 24 lbs
Maternity clothes? Yes. My sweet mother gave me a gift card over Thanksgiving break to go to A Pea in the Pod and buy nice maternity clothes for Christmas and Christmas parties!  I picked up another pair of maternity dress pants to wear to work. So, now I have 4 pairs of pants to choose from every morning. Hot dog! 
Stretch marks? Yes I'm really starting to notice them these past two weeks on the sides of my stomach. Also, I have started to notice the muscles disappearing from my legs due to lack of exercise.  That one has been hard to deal with. :(

Can you see your toes?  When I bend way over! They are nice to look at right now, too.  Mom took me for a pedicure while I was home. Isn't she awesome?! 

Sleep:  I've figured out what works, and I will tell you that the couch is the most comfortable spot in the house right now. 

Best moment this week:  Receiving our pack and play as a surprise gift last Friday! Thanks Grandpa John! 
Also - PRINCESS KATE IS HAVING A BABY TOO!!!!Miss Anything? Not just running- any and all exercise in general. I had trouble even doing the elliptical! 
Movement: He's been scaring me since these last 2 weeks the movement has decreased a lot.  I'm still getting the required number of kicks, but I can go hours without feeling him and it makes me so nervous! Experts say there is a huge drop in movement around week 28/29 due to the baby having less room in the womb to move around. 

Food cravings: It's not necessarily cravings but being very specific about every little taste. Last week for dinner I wanted cheese and vegetables. 
Anything making you queasy or sick:  The morning sickness came back about 3 weeks ago, but it went away again last week, so that's good! 
Have you started to show yet: Everyday I hear the same 2 comments, "Oh my gosh you're getting huge!"  and "oh look at you still so tiny! It's the smallest baby bump I've ever seen!"  This is quite confusing people....
Labor Signs: Braxton Hicks still, but way less than before. I've learned how to take it easy and stay off my feet more. 
Belly Button in or out? It's kind of in the in-between stage right now. 
Wedding rings on or off? Still on! 
Happy or Moody most of the time: Really really grumpy/moody/emotional. I'm not going to lie. With the school year really getting rough, XU classes picking up before the end, my big Comps Exam at XU, and the basement still not being done...I am on stress overload. 
Weekly Wisdom: It's okay if your baby hiccups 4 or even 5 times a day. Apparently that is completely normal, as long as I'm still getting enough movement throughout the day. Phew! 
Looking forward to: being done with XU and my Masters!!!!  Also looking forward to holiday parties this weekend. 

*Last thing to note- we did interview and select a sitter for when I go back after maternity leave!  Yay!  We are thrilled with the choice :)